A man may be in
as just possession of truth as of a city, and yet be forced to
surrender; 'tis therefore far better to enjoy her with peace, than to
hazard her on a battle: if therefore there rise any doubts in my way, I
do forget them, or at least defer them, till my better settled judgment
and more manly reason be able to resolve them; for I perceive every
man's own reason is his best Oedipus, and will, upon a reasonable truce,
find a way to loose those bonds wherewith the subtleties of error have
enchained our more flexible and tender judgments. In philosophy, where
truth seems double-faced, there is no man more paradoxical than myself:
but in divinity I love to keep the road; and though not in an implicit,
yet an humble faith, follow the great wheel of the Church, by which I
move, not reserving any proper poles or motion from the epicycle of my
own brain: by these means I leave no gap for heresy, schisms, or errors.

As for those wingy mysteries in divinity, and airy subtleties in
religion, which have unhinged the brains of better heads, they never
stretched the _pia mater_ of mine: methinks there be not impossibilities
enough in religion for an active faith; the deepest mysteries ours
contains have not only been illustrated, but maintained, by syllogism
and the rule of reason. I love to lose myself in a mystery, to pursue my
reason to an _O altitudo!_ 'Tis my solitary recreation to pose my
apprehension with those involved enigmas and riddles of the Trinity,
with Incarnation and Resurrection. I can answer all the objections of
Satan and my rebellious reason with that odd resolution I learned of
Tertullian, "Certum est quia impossible est." I desire to exercise my
faith in the difficultest point; for to credit ordinary and visible
objects is not faith, but persuasion. Some believe the better for seeing
Christ's sepulchre; and when they have seen the Red Sea, doubt not of
the miracle. Now contrarily, I bless myself and am thankful that I live
not in the days of miracles, that I never saw Christ nor his disciples;
I would not have been one of those Israelites that passed the Red Sea,
nor one of Christ's patients on whom he wrought his wonders: then had my
faith been thrust upon me; nor should I enjoy that greater blessing
pronounced to all that believe and saw not. 'Tis an easy and necessary
belief, to credit what our eye and sense hath examined: I believe he was
dead and buried, and rose again; and desire to see him in